“The Allure of Frowned Eyebrows and Dishevelled Hair: Images of Female Sorrow, Anger, and Unadorned Beauty in Wang Cihui’s (1593-1642) Xianglianti (Fragrant-Dressing-Case Style) Poetry”
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About this event
Speaker: Ms Lucrezia BOTTI 白璐璐 (SOAS): 232381@soas.ac.uk
The late Ming poet Wang Cihui王次回 (1593-1642) is a major and prolific late imperial practitioner of xianglianti 香奩體(fragrant-dressing-case style) poetry, a thematic category of traditional Chinese poetry centred on the sensual and aesthetic treatment of the theme of love and women. Situating himself within the literary path opened by Han Wo’s韓偓 (844-923) Xianglian ji 香奩集 (Fragrant Dressing Case Collection), Wang Cihui further contributed to the development of the feminine and amorous-erotic thematic sphere in traditional Chinese poetry.
Despite a recently growing scholarly interest in Wang Cihui, there is still the need for more in-depth literary research on his poetry. My paper aims to explore in further depth Wang Cihui’s xianglianti poetry, with a focus on its imagery and diction. Through the case studies of images of female sorrow, mild anger, and unadorned beauty in Wang Cihui’s Yiyu ji 疑雨集 (Doubtful Rain Collection), I will show how the late Ming poet carried on and, at the same time, brought innovation to the xianglianti tradition. These three themes will be explored through close reading and textual analysis of selected poems. I argue that, by explicitly appreciating unadorned beauty and angry and sorrowful expressions as aesthetically superior, Wang Cihui added his personal touch to xianglianti poetry, using it as a medium to present himself as a connoisseur of femininity, able to appreciate the different nuances and manifestations of female beauty.
My paper will contribute to our knowledge and understanding of Wang Cihui’s xianglianti poetry and his self-constructed fengliu 風流 (unconventional, stylishly refined) poetic persona. My contribution also hopes to extend to the larger field of pre-modern Chinese xianglianti and amorous-erotic poetry and, even more broadly, to the study of images of women in traditional Chinese literature.